Means for preventing fraudulent use of empty bottles



(No Model.)

J. R. HARE. Y MEANS FOR PREVENTING FRAUDULENT USE OF EMPTY BOTTLES.

No. 552,321, PatentedDemSI, 1895.

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WITNEEEE 5- l QM/02M K z NIT-ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. HARE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

MEANS FOR PREVENTING FRAUDULENT USE OF EMPTY BOTTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,321, dated December31, 1895. Application filed. May 13, 1895. S e1'ia1No.549,069. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN R. HARE, of the city of Baltimore and State ofMaryland, have invented certain Improvements in Means for Preventing theFraudulent Use of Empty Bottles, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to means to prevent the unsealing of a bottlewithout the destruction of an element thereof which bears the trade-markor name of the proprietor of the goods originally bottled, and therebyprevent the subsequent use of the bottle for the holding of a spurious,fraudulent and inferior article, and the sale of the same under thelabel or trade-mark of the original proprietor, as will hereinafterfully appear.

In the description of the said invention which follows reference is madeto the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which-Figure 1 is a vertical section of the upper part of a bottle providedwith the invention, and Fig. 2 a top view of the same.

Referring now to the drawings, A represents the neck of the bottle and Bthe head.

0 is the stopper or cork which is inserted in the mouth a of abottle-head. The bottlehead is frusto-conical in shape, and near to itslower end is provided with grooves or corrugations b.

D is a glass capsule adapted'to fit the head 13 when the top of thecapsule is some distance above the cork O. The portion of the innersurface of the capsule which covers the corrugations or grooves b in thesurface of the head is furnished with similar grooves or corrugations c,and below these or at the lower end of the capsule is a small lip orflange cl, the inner diameter of which is slightly greater than thegreatest diameter of the bottle-head.

After the bottle is filled and stoppered, some cement, such asplaster-of-paris, is applied to the inner surface or that part of thesurface of the capsule wherein are the grooves c, and then1 the capsuleis slipped over the bottleheac In this operation some of the plasterenters the grooves 11 in the bottle-head and passes between the lowerend of the bottlehead and the inner face of the lip of the cap sule,andas soon as the cement sets the capsule is secured and cannot beremoved entire.

To open the bottle or remove the seal or cork, the capsule has first tobe broken, and this is easily done by striking the top of the capsule,which forces it down farther over the inclined surface of the head.lVhen the capsule is broken, the cork may be removed in the usualmanner.

It is intended to have the name or trademark of the proprietor of thegoods blown or otherwise marked on the capsule, and any attempt to usethe bottle in a fraudulent manner by passing off a spurious article forthe genuine one will be detected.

A paper label may be pasted over the capsule, if desired, such labelhaving thereon the'trade-mark or name of the proprietor,

which label will be destroyed in the destruction of the capsule.

While I prefer to use the grooves 12 and o to hold the cement, thecapsule and bottlehead may be made plain, as the cement in gettingbetween the lip 01 and the lower end of the bottle-head will besufficient to prevent the removal of the capsule without its beingbroken.

I claim as my invention- In combination with the frusto-eonical head ofa bottle corrugated near its lower end, a breakable glass capsule of asimilar shape which fits the lateral surface of the bottle head and isprovided with corrugations which register with those in the bottle head,the top of the capsule being elevated above the bottle head so that thecapsule may be driven down and burst in its downward movement,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

Jrornv R. HARE.

Witnesses:

WM. T. HOWARD, DANL. FISHER.

